568 
SPASM OR CRAMP. 
they had no right to be frightened without leave. It seems 
hardly fair, but opinions differ. He may be going past a 
lime quarry, for instance ; there is a noise, he gets uneasy, 
and then punished, to get more uneasy still the next time 
he sees the same object, and a further punishment only settles 
him more firmly in the belief, that there is some unfortunate 
connection between a quarry or animal leap and the whip 
and spur. I have every faith in the efficacy of kindness, 
and none whatever in cruelty. This, however is at the con- 
sideration of your readers, for their own individual adoption 
as a principle of action in the treatment of animals. 
I am your very obliged servant, 
William Gavin. 
SPASM OR CRAMP. 
By J. R. Dobson, M.R.C.V.S. Kettering. 
Sir, — Believing that cases of spasm of the voluntary 
muscles or cramp 99 are, in the horse, of somewhat rare 
occurrence, I am induced to send you the following case. 
On the 2 1st of July, I was requested to examine a well- 
bred hackney mare, the property of a gentleman in this 
neighbourhood, reported to be excessively stiff and lame in 
the near hind leg. On examination, I found the limb ab- 
ducted, and so stiff as to be absolutely incapable of being 
flexed in any one joint, from the hip to the fetlock ; which 
latter knuckled over at every step the animal attempted to 
take, progression being almost an impossibility. The muscles 
of the haunch and thigh were hard, and apparently swollen. 
Altogether, the symptoms much resembled dislocation of the 
patella. 
Upon getting the mare out of her box, which was ac- 
companied with some difficulty, and allowing her to stand 
for a minute or two in the open air, the spasmed muscles 
seemed gradually to relax, and in a few minutes she 
walked and trotted as well as ever. This amendment was, 
however, of short duration ; she began to walk slightly lame, 
and, in an instant after, the limb was rigid and stiff as before. 
This in a short time again went off, but returned several 
times as she was being walked round the yard. A dose of 
cathartic medicine was administered, and hot fomentations 
applied to the limb ; under which treatment, the intervals of 
relaxation from spasm became longer, and in a day or two 
the mare was perfectly recovered. 
I am, &c. 
